Xochiquetzal (2): can you recognise her?

Study this image of Xochiquetzal from the Codex Borgia (click on it to enlarge it), and see if you can spot all the elements listed below that help us recognise this Aztec goddess of love-making, youth and beauty... (Written/compiled by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)

3 At 10.47am on Monday September 12 2011, elisabete wrote:

yes, she is beautytezcaplitoca forced her to marry him, its true?

Mexicolore replies: Yes! In one myth she was the first wife of Tlaloc, but was abducted and carried off to the underworld by Tezcatlipoca (a serial seducer). Some experts think this story had a purpose similar to the Greek tale of Persephone’s marriage to the lord of the underworld Hades - as ‘an attempt to explain the changing seasons or the death and rebirth of flowers’ (Tom Lowenstein, Gods of Sun and Sacrifice).

2 At 4.57pm on Sunday March 13 2011, dea wrote:

Almost forgot, she is also in he Maglibeciano Codex as two blankets, One a butterfly (white) with a star eye, and the Other an expanding nova all blue.

1 At 9.33am on Sunday May 30 2010, Carl de Borhegyi wrote:

In the Magliabechiano Codex, there is an interesting story about Quetzalcoatl that has to do with a mythical bat that grew to life in the underworld from a stone in which the seed of Quetzalcoatl had penetrated. Quetzalcoatl is mentioned in the codex as being the son of Miclantecutli, the Lord of the Underworld and place of the dead. The bat that grew from Quetzalcoatl’s seed was sent by the other gods to bite the goddess Xochiquetzal, the goddess of flowers, and while she was sleeping the bat bit off a piece of her womb and took it to the other underworld gods. While the underworld gods were washing her flesh, water had spilled onto the ground causing many flowers to grow that smelled badly. This may be a reference to Teonanacatl known to the Aztecs as “Gods’ Flesh”Carl de Borhegyi

Mexicolore replies: Thanks for this interesting contribution, Carl. We’ve adjusted the wording in your piece to allow for younger audiences...